Hopper and car



Nov.3,19z5. L560J09 G. N. SIMPSON HOPPER AND CAR Filed March 11, 1925 5ts-Sheet 1 Nov. 3, 1925; 1,560,109

G. N. SIMPSON HOPPER AND CAR Filed March 11, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 F19.CDT

Nov. s, 1925. 1,560,109

a. N. SIMPSON HOPPER AND CAR Fil ed March 11, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 5 I II I I l I I l I I s. N. SIMPSON Nov. 3, 1925. v v 1,560,109

HOPPER AND CAR Filed March 11, 1925 5 Sheets Shee'C 4- a j g I v g g 5J/mm I Nov; 3, 1925'. 1,560,109

G. NKSIMPSON HOPPER. AND 0BR Filed March 11,1 5 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 she innt he Patented Nov. 3, I925.

1,5603% PATENT owl GEQRGE NySIMPSON OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS;

HOPPER AND can.

Application file'd vrareh 11. 1925. Serial m. 14,708.

continuous loadingproeess. By this process,

I mean, the continuous discharge of niaterial into a hopper by mea-nsofloading machine or otherwise, and the" intermittent removal of materialfrom said hopper by ear. Such'a process,"1'o1- enaniple,- may be usedbyplacing a loading machine at the face of the material which hasbeen'shot, and permitting the same to diseharge-a continuous streanrofmaterial int-o a hopper'close by. The loading machine and hop per beingat the face" of the material Witlv in a room are ordinarily not readilyaceessible by the ordinary mine cars, and therefore, a: shuttle ear isused to transport material hem the'hopper to the stub entry or roomentry'where'th 'e shuttle oar is un- Eoaded, and its contents dischargedinto the regular-mine cars operating in the cross en- Tn order toillustrate my invention, therefore; I have here shown such a"hopper andshuttle car. It is obvious,hoWeVer, that the apparatus here shown isadapte'dfor other uses than the'one refer-red to.

Lin-that form of devioe einhodying the featm'es of my invention shownkinthe accompanying tli awinggs, Figured is a view in side elevation of myimproved hopper and ear, Fig. Q isa similar" View in top plan, 3 isalongitudinal section of the same ear ahnost entirely under the hopper,Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig 3 shoeing;- the car at the end of itstravel un der the hop per, Fig. 5 is a similar view showing}: the earjust as it is leaving the hopper, and Fig. 6 is atransverse verticalsectional \lGW.

is shown in the drawings, 10 indicates the discharge end of a loadingmachine edzrrpted to-supplya continuous stream of L 21 to th-e hopper.Material may be supplied to the hopper in this manner or in any otherniannen Loading inachines thusdesigned to pick up sli'otinateriaflfroi'nth" face aiicl" discharge" it in a stieain, are in the art and.forin' no part of'thei present" invention. llind'icates, in general,thehopper' which is substantially rectangular in shape made out ofsheetnietal or other" iiit-ablematefial and is here showlias'hai 111g;its sides rigid and stteiigthefltl by means of the an le menibers 1'2fastened thereto;- The hopper 11 is supported in anysuitabl'e man; ner,as, .for example, by means of theadjustable 1egs13. Verena-1 niovable"ins 1 1" are provided, the ame being adapted to be thrusted upwardlyinto roof of the room in order to assist inholdingthe hep: per firr'nlyfin position 15, 15 indicatesthe rails uponavhich the shuttle car 16 isaidaptetl to operate? The body ofthe' hopper is supported asuflioiehtdistance above the rails "15' and the legs 13 givea suflioient spread"so that the shuttle car 16 is adaptedto move on the ails'1 5 into aposition under ur hap er: I

In the operation of the devi'cetth e shuttle car 16 inovesfto' the left(as viewe d' Figs 1) to a position' under theho'pper, the" end ofitstrayelbein indicated by tlih position oe'e'upied inFipg. 4. Inleaving theliopper, the car noVesin the opposite direction,

that is, to the right (asvieit ed in Fig.

Theend oi thehopjioer at- Whiehtheear en-- ters and leaves,I refertoasthe front thereof. The end of the car that enters the hopper first andleaves last, I have ref-(aired to as the frontoi' 'the' car.Thebott'oniot the hopper 11 as divided into two trans"- versesectionswhich are substantially equal in area,"exeept that the back seetionis'soine- What larget than -thedrontsection. The hack of' th'e'hopperisflelosed by a-"slant-ing rigid end plates 17 The back bottom seeti'onThane indicated by 18 and-the front bottom section by 19, both of whichsections compriselongitudinally slidable plates supported at their edgesoir'gnides, the plate 18 resting on theguides 18 and the plate 19 on theguides 19; said guides 18 and 1.9 comprising the horizontal flanges of achannel iron asshown. The plate 18, as shown, isada'plted'toslide"under"the plate 17, and lili'eWi'sethe'plh-t'e 19 slides underthe platelS; VVhen both of these plates' are substantiallyentirely underthe plate 17' ass-shown in Fig. 1, it Willbeseenthat the bottom ofthehopper has substantially all of its area open. This is as wide as thebottom can he opened.

Means are provided whereby the movement of the shuttle car 16 to aposition under the hopper opens the bottom so that the hopper willdischarge a load of material into the car. As the car moves from underthe hopper, the bottom is automatically closed.

The plate 19 is provided on its under side with three angle irons,namely, 20 at the front edge 22 at the rear edge, and 21 substantiallyat the center. The plate 18 is provided with two angle irons on itsunder side, namely, 23 at the forward edge and at the rear edge.

The shuttle car 16 is provided w t transversely arranged shaftearriebearings 26. The ends of the shaft are provided with short arms 2?carrying on their ends anti-friction rollers 28 adapted to enter theguides 29 at the sides of the hopper. Between the bearings 26 the shaftalso carries two forwardly projecting short arms 30 having pivotallymounted on their ends vertically movable latch bars 81 extendingsubstantially to the upper edge of the front end of the car, lt will beseen that rocking of the shaf 25 will move the latch bars 31 upwardly ordownwardly. Rocking of theshaft 25 will be caused by movement of therollers 28 in the guides 29, said guides having depressions therein tocause said rocking as wil be described more in detail hereinafter.

The latch bars 31 have virtually two operative positions, one when theyare up so that their ends will engage the angle irons 20, 21 or 22, andone when they are down so that they will clear these angle irons. In thefurther description, therefore T. will refer to these latch l ars asbeing up or down. Tl, will be noted that the bottom surfaces of theguides 29 have two levels. as shown in Fig. l. the higher level beingindicated by 29 and the lower level by 29 and 29.

The operation is as follows. As the car 26 approaches the hopper, therollers 28 en- The is low so that the ter the front ends of the guides29. front part of the guide 9 latch l rs 31 will be in their lowerposition. Fun e stops are provided to prevent the latch their lowerposition. Consequently, ti e rollers 28 will enter the front ends of theli'nides 29. Since the latch bars are in their lower position, the upperends will clear the angle iron 20 thus causing no opening of the bottomof the hopper at the start. After the-latch bars have cleared the angleiron 2) the rollers 28 will strike the inclines 29 in the guides 29 thuslifting tl e rollers up to the higher leved 29 and consequently raisingthe latch bars 31. Upon further movement of the ear forward, the ends ofbars or rollers 28 from falling belowthe latch bars will engage theangle iron 21. on the sliding plate 19. Further movement forward of thecar will therefore slide this plate open until the angle iron 32 on theupper side at its rear edge engages the angle iron 24 on the plate 18.Thereupon both plates together will be moved to the left until therollers 28 reach the declines 33 in the guides 29. The car is shown inthis position in Fig. 3. At this point, the rollers 28 will be forceddown by the slant 33 or drop down to the lower levels 29 thus rcleasingthe latch bars 81 from the angle iron 21 and allowing both the plates 18and 19 to remain stationary until such latch bars 31 are again raised bythe higher level of the guides so that they will engage the angle iron22 at the rear edge of the plate 19. Thereupon further movement of thecar to its final position as shown in Fig. d will serve to move bothplates 18 and 19 further to the left, giving the hopper its widestopening.

As the car leaves the hopper, the operation is as follows. The plates 18and 19 at remain stationary until the latch bars ngage the strip 21. Theplate 19 is then 1' eved to the right until it is released by the'ollers dropping down to the low portion 9 ofthe guides 29. The latchbars then re moved up again so that upon further mo ement of the car tothe rightthey Will nigage the strip 20 thus pulling the plate 19 u *therto the right until the angle iron 32 engages the angle iron 23. Furthermovement of the car to the right will then pull both plates to theirclosed position as shown in 5 and finally, as the car leaves the hopperthe rollers 28 will descend the decline no so that the latch bars 31will be disengaged from the strip 29 permitting the car to leave thehopper.

lVhile l have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention,it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Chanes, therefore in the construction and arrangement may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in theappended claims, in which it is my intention to claim all noveltyinherent in my invention as broadly as possible in view of the priorart. T :ill n w describe more in detail some the features of theinvention. e noted that as the car enters the hopper ie sliding plate 19is first moved. This causes nraterial in the front end of the hopper todischarge into the front. portion car. That is, all the material lyingon the plate 19 falls into the front portion of the car. After the angleiron engages the angle iron on the plate 18 both plates will slidetogether until the car reaches the position shown in Fig.

Obviously during this movement of the it is to' plates 19 and 18together, some of the materialon top of the plate 18 will also fallintothe forward portion of the car. It is to be noted, however, that whenthe car reaches the position shown in Fig. 3, the latch bars will dropso that both plates 18 and 19 remain stationary until the latch barsagain engage the angle iron 22. During this further movement of the carwith both plates 19 and 18 stationary, the rear por tion of the car willadvance nearer to the right handor discharge edges of the plates 18. and19 so that further movement of the car into the hopper after the latchbars 31 have engaged the angle iron 22 will cause discharge of materialfrom the top. of the plate 18 into the rear portion of the car. In otherwords, stated generally, the apparatus is so designed that upon movementof the car into the hopper the front portionof the car will first befilled and then the rear portion. Because of this construction, the carwill be fully loaded, and the load will be evenly distributed in thecar. Moreover, the hopper will be practically entirely emptied. Forexample, if the hopper contains only enough mate-rial for one carload,and such material is spread substantially uniformlyover the bottom ofthe hopper; all of such material will be emptied from the, hopper intothe car to give the latter a full load. For example, assuming that thereis only one carload of material in the hopper, evenly, distributed overthe bottom sections 18 and, 19, the operation will be somewhat asfollows. The car upon entering will first go partway under the slidingsection 19 before the bottom is opened at all. The section 19 will thenslide to dischargematerial into the front, portion of the car, the samesubstantially filling the front portion of the car and flowing under thesection 19. Both sections will then move togather to discharge morematerial into the car-until the car reaches the position shown in Fig.8. From this point, both sections will remain stationary, while the carmoves forward until the latch bars 31 engage th angle iron 22. This willbring the rear portion, of the car up to the discharge edges, of theplates 18 and 19 sovthat further move ment of the car into the hopperwill cause the remaining material on the plate 18 to fall into the backportion of the car, thus v 'unpletely and evenly filling the carandeutirely emptying the hopper.

.lt is to be noted also that the apparatus so arranged that as the carbegins tomove under the hopper, it will not comnience to open the bottomuntil it has moved a shortdistance thereunder. That is, there will benoopening, of the bottom until the latch bars 31 engage the angle iron 21.The front end of the car will therefore beipartly undertheplate 19beforei the discharge of material into the front portion of the carcommences This overlappingof the er:- treme front end of thecar by theplate 19 provides room for the material to flow thereunder, thus causingamuch more even and better filling of thecar, smoother and betteroperation ofthe parts, and less danger of any spillage.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to re; ceive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hopper a suflicient distance above the floor to permitthecar to go underthe same; a sliding bottom section at its forward endof said hopper; a part on said section at its forward edge; another parton said section substantially back of the forward edge; a movable parton the car; means whereby said movable. part onthe car will move to aposition so that it, will pass the part on the front edge of the movablesection as the car goes under the hopper and engage the part back of theforward edge. as the car moves further under the hopper whereby saidsliding section is opened by suclrfurther movementofthe car under thehopper; means whereby, upon movement of said car from a position underthe hopper, said movable part will move to a position so thatit willengage the parton the front edgev of the movable section and close thesame; and means whereby said movable part on the car will move to a pom190 sition so that it will be disengaged from vthev part on the frontedge of the movable section as the, car leaves the hopper.

2. A hopper adapted to receive continuous supply. of material,- a caradapted to 9 receive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hop-per a sutlicient distance above the floor to permitthe car to go under the same; a movable bottom section at the front endof the hopper; a part onisaid bottom section near the. front edgethereof; another part on said movable section back ofthe front edge;aanovable pant on the front end of thecar; a, guide on the hopperhavingdi'lferent levelsgoai shoe on the car adapted to enter-said guideas ithecar goes under the hopper; a connection between said shoe-and,the movableipart on the car where byisaid movable part is raised whenthe shoe is in the higher levelliot theguide; and lowered when saidshoe, is iii-the lower level of the guide; the levels of said guidebeing so arranged that as the car enters the hopper, themovable part onthe front part of,

the car willihe lowered to pass; the part on the,

forward edge of; the movableibottom section and raisedto engage thepartonthe bottom section bacloof the forward edge touopen saith section,anduponthe car leavingthe opper heimova le-pantthereo i l; be

moved so that it will clear the part on the front edge of the movablebottom section.

3. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hopper a sntiicient distance above the fioor to permitthe car to go under the same; a longitudinally slidable bottom sectionin the hopper at -the front end thereof; means whereby movement of thecar to a position under the hopper will first permit said bottom sectionto remain stationary, then move the same with the car, then permit thesame to remain statizmarv, and then move the same with the car untilsaid car reaches its inal position under the hopper; and means wherebysaid car, upon moving; away from its final position under the hopper,will close said bottom section.

4-. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hopper a suflicient distance above the floor to permitthe car to go under the same; a longitudinally slidable bottom sectionin the hopper at the front end thereof; means whereby movement of thecar to a. position under the hopper will first permit said bottomsection to remain stationary, then move the same with the car, thenpermit the same to remain stationary, and then move the same with thecar until said car reaches its final position under the hopper; andmeans whereby movement of said car away from its final posit-ion undersaid hopper will first permit said bottom section to remain stationary,then move said bottom section toward closed position, then permit saidsection to remain stationary, and then move said bottom section to fullyclosed position.

A hopper adapted to receive a con tinuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper, and adapted tomove to and from a position under said hopper; means for supporting thehopper a sufficient distance above the floor to permit the car to gounder the same; a longitudinally slidable bottom section at the frontend of said hopper; a second slidable bottom section back of said firstnamed section; and means whereby movement of the car to a position underthe hopper at first permits both said slidable sections to remainstationary,then moves the first mentioned section toward open position.

6. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper, and adapted tomove to and from a position under said hopper means for supporting I thehopper a suflicient distance above the floor to permit the car to gounder the same; a longitudinally slidable bottom section at the frontend of said hopper; a second slidabie bottom section back of said firstnamed section; means whereby movement of the car to a position under thehopper at first permits both said slidable sections to remainstationary, then moves the first mentioned section toward open position,then moves both sections to open position; and means whereby movement ofsaid car from a position under said hopper will close both said slidablebottom sections.

7. A hopper adapted to receive a coninuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopoer and adapted tomove to and from a ion under said hopper; means for sup-' porting thehopper a sufficient distance above the fioor to permit the car to gounder the same; a longitudinally slidablc bottom section at the frontend of said hop-- per; a second slidable bottom section back of saidfirst namedsection; means whereby movement of the car to a positionunder the hopper at first permits both said slidable sections to remainstationary, then moves the first mentioned section toward open position,then moves both sections toward open position, then permits bothsections to remain stationary, and then moves both sections to fullyopen position; and means whereby movement of said car from a positionunder said hopper first permits both said slidable sections to remainstationary, then moves the forward section toward closed position, andthen moves both sections to fully closed position.

8. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper, and adapted tomove to and from a position under said hopper: means for supporting thehopper a sntiicient distance above the fioor to permit the car to gounder the same; a longitudinally slidable bottom section at the frontend of said hopper; a secend slidable bottom section back of said firstnamed section; a part on the forward bottom section; a part on the caradapted to engage said part on the forward bottom section after the carhas moved partway under the hopper, whereby further movement of the carwill carry said front section with said car; means whereby movement ofthe forward bottom section to open position will slide the back'bottomsection also to Open position; and means whereby movement of said carfrom a position under said hopper will close both said bottom sections.

9. A hopper adapted to receive a continuens supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper, and adapted tomove to and from a position under said hopper; means for supporting thehopper a sufficient distance above the floor to permit the car to gounder the same;

a longitudinally slidable bottom section at the front end of saidhopper; a second slidable bottom section back of said first namedsection; a part on the forward bottom section; a part on the car adaptedto engage said part on the forward bottom sect-ion after the car hasmoved partway under the hopper, whereby further movement of the car Willcarry said front section With said car; means whereby movement of thefor Ward bottom section to open position will slide the back bottomsection also to open position; and means whereby movement of said carfrom a position under said hopper will close both said bottom sections;said opening and closing means comprising a movable latch on the caradapted to engage parts on the front section and operated by a shoe in aguide on the hopper.

10. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hopper a suflicient distance above the floor to permitthe car to go under the same; and means op- I erated by movement of thecar to a position under the hopper for discharging material from onesection of the hopper into one portion of the car and from anothersection of the hopper into another portion of the car.

11. A hopper adapted to receive a con tinuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hopper a sufficient distance above the floor to permitthe car to go under the same; and means operated by movement of the carto a position under the hopper for discharging material from the frontsection of the hopper into the front portion of the car and from theback section of the hopper into the back portion of the car.

12. A hopper adapted to receive a con tinuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hop" per; means forsupporting the hopper a sufficient distance above the floor to permitthe car to go under the same; a slidable bottom section at the front endof the hopper; a second sli'dable bottom section back of said firstnamed section; and means whereby movement of the car to a position undersaid hopper at first opens said front bottom section and then permitsthe same to remain stationary and then opens the back section.

13. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper; means forsupporting the hopper a sufficient distance above the floor to permitthe car to go under the same; a slidable bottom section at the front endof the hopper; a second slidable bottom section back of said first namedsection; and means whereby movement of the car to a position under saidhopper at first opens the front section, then opens both sectionssimultaneously, then permits both sections to remain stationary and thenopens both sections simultaneously.

14. A hopper adapted to receive a continuous supply of material; a caradapted to receive a load of material from the hopper;'means forsupporting the hopper a sufficient distance above the floor to permitthe carto go under the same; a slidable bottom section at the front endof the 'hop-' per; a second slidable bottom section back of said firstnamed section; and means whereby movement of the car to a position undersaid hopper at first opens the front section, and then opens bothsections simultaneously.

Witness my hand and seal this 28 day of February, A. D. 1925.

GEORGE N. SIMPSON. [1,. 5.]

